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Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Neil.

In recent years, new diets with names like vegan,

kesto and paleo have become very popular.

Are you a vegetarian, Neil?

Do you follow any particular diet?

Well, I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables,

and only a little meat from time to time.

Well, while many diets claim to improve health or help you lose weight,

recent research shows that what counts is not what you eat,

but how your body reacts.

Yes, and that reaction doesn't happen where you might think,

not in the brain or tongue, or even the stomach, but in the gut.

Another name for the intestines, the long tube inside your body which digests food.

Inside everyone's gut are millions of microbes, tiny living organisms,

too small to see without a microscope.

Some of them are good for us, some bad.

Microbes help digest food, but they influence our bodies more than we know.

Think of them as chemical factories that cause our individual reaction to the food we eat.

This mix of gut microbes is unique and different for everyone,

...